“We’ve got to be able to run the ball, we’ve got to have explosive passes, we’ve got to be able to throw the ball down the field,” Smart said, adding: “You’re going to say that’s broad, I’m going to say we don’t know until we find out more about our personnel. We don’t make our personnel fit Jim Chaney’s offense. We can’t do that.”

…

“We have a gameplan every game we go in, just like every team does, that you have three wide sets and you are able to run certain plays out of them,” Smart said. “We have those. If those work, then I’m great with it, especially if we’re not successful in the other. But we have to do what the strengths of our team are. And sometimes that’s two back, sometimes it’s not.”

Actually, I think you can. It’s just that I’m not sure Chaney and Smart have shown a sense of flexibility consistently throughout the season. Part of that may be due to them not really having a good feel for what those team strengths are. So sometimes we’ve seen what feels very much like an effort to jam a square peg in a round hole and sometimes we’ve gotten the impression they’re simply feeling their way around.

“A lot of that is based on not only who we are or what we run, but who we play,” Smart said Monday, when asked about the creativity of Georgia’s rushing attack. “The bottom line is the bigger and more physical they are out there, the harder they are to move. We have to be creative. We have to have the right runs into the right fronts. We have to be stubborn enough to be able to run those. But at the same time allow Jacob to use his strengths and use the wide outs.”

I’m not mocking here. Eason does have his strengths, as this stat from Jason Butt clearly demonstrates: “On drives that have ended with go-ahead scores with less than two minutes to go in games, Eason is 11-of-16 passing for 171 yards.”

There are a lot of head coaches who would give their left arm for a quarterback capable of that. Keep a game close late, and you’ve got a real chance to steal a win. That’s something to build around.

It’s not an end in and of itself, though. It’s not nothing, either. So while you shouldn’t slavishly copy everything you do in a end-of-game, two-minute drill setting and make that the sum total of what you do offensively, there are certain elements of it that may be worth adapting in the first fifty-eight minutes of play.

I’ve never coached, but I watched enough Mike Bobo to confirm that the best offensive philosophy is keep it simple, stupid. Get the ball into the hands of your best playmakers. Figure out your opponent’s weaknesses on defense and exploit them until your opponent proves he can stop what you’re doing. Scheme around your weaknesses.

Case in point: Auburn’s defense comes into Athens a little nervous over what Vanderbilt — Vanderbilt! — did to work around the Tigers’ pass rush.

Georgia’s blossoming attack all starts with quarterback Jacob Eason, and running backs Sony Michel and Nick Chubb, who have combined for 1,178 yards. They’re a big concern for the Tigers’ defense, which has struggled in the last two games against quick passes. Those quick passes, slants and screens have negated Auburn’s once-powerful pass rush.

While “blossoming” may be a bit of a stretch, there is some validity to the concern. The same Vanderbilt offense that only managed 171 yards in Athens gained nearly twice that last Saturday on the Plains. It was only the second time all season the ‘Dores managed to exceed 200 yards passing. And, oh, yeah, Auburn managed only one sack.

You would think this approach would be a no-brainer this week, as it works around an offensive line with shortcomings and plays into areas where Georgia indeed appears to be finding contributing skill position players as the season develops. But will that happen?

Maybe. There were some encouraging signs in that regard against Kentucky.

Georgia was in the shot-gun 40 times in last Saturday’s game, and those plays gained 276 yards. The other 33 plays netted 184 yards, though 51 of those came on one play: The 51-yard pass to Javon Wims, which was on play-action.

Both of Georgia’s touchdowns came out of the shot-gun: A 38-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah McKenzie out of a four-wide set, and a 26-yard Sony Michel run on an inside handoff. Michel had five runs of 8 yards or longer out of the shot-gun.

It wasn’t just the formations they ran. For the first time in a while, it appeared they made a conscious decision to use the pass to set up the run by backing defenders out of the box. In the immortal words of Javon Wims, fresh off his career day,

“When we run the team ball teams are going to tend to stack the box, and they’re going to bring all their guys in, and sometimes you have to keep them honest by throwing it.”

When searching for a new head football coach, schools have been showing a greater desire to hire an up-and-comer, like Tom Herman or P.J. Fleck, rather than a veteran with a long record of success, such as Les Miles.

The average age of the head coaches hired by FBS teams last season was 43.2 years old, the youngest in the past six years. Eight of the 26 new hires were under 40 when they accepted the job.

In 2010 and 2011, the average age of the 48 coaches hired by FBS schools was a touch over 47, including eight under the age of 40.

Interesting, I guess. But it’s the thinking behind the trend that’s so amusing.

Potential is often more appealing to those hiring a coach than an extensive resume, according to Daniel Parker, the vice president and managing director of sports for Parker Executive Search, based in Atlanta. Parker helps programs identify coaching candidates and hire them.

“Bringing in somebody that’s got a lot of energy, that’s going to change the program, recruit really well, work really hard, that does something for the fan base. It re-energizes the athletics department. Re-energizes the fans,” Parker said.

You know what a re-energized fan base means — mo’ money!

Best of all, if or when the young whippersnapper doesn’t work out, you can always dump him and find another young ‘un to re-energize the fans again. Time it right and you can make winning championships almost irrelevant to your business plan.

And here I thought Greg McGarity was clueless. Turns out he’s just a little ahead of the curve.

Gotta love a portion of our fan base, at least the one that I read on the Internet. Some of us go from bitching about Georgia losing because Mark Richt never showed emotion on the sideline to bitching about Georgia losing because Kirby Smart’s got ants in his pants during games.